Phononic Vibes Raises €25 Million Led by Jolt Capital

Phononic Vibes has secured €25 million in a funding round led by Jolt Capital, the European private equity firm that invests in growth-stage deep-tech companies. The round, made through Jolt Capital V, marks the fund's first investment in Italy. That vehicle targets €1 billion, is nearing final closure, and backs European deep-tech firms with strong international growth prospects.

The transaction includes the acquisition of 360 Capital's stake, held since the company's seed round. Cesare Maifredi, general partner at 360 Capital Partners, framed it as a handover: "I am now passing the baton to Jolt Capital, in the belief that they are the right partner to accompany Phononic Vibes through its next phase of growth."

What does the company actually sell?

Phononic Vibes builds metamaterials — engineered structures whose geometry performs the function that mass traditionally handled. Conventional noise barriers, sound-insulating enclosures and silencers all follow the law of mass: more silence means more material. The company's products weigh up to 30 per cent less while delivering the same acoustic performance, or deliver better performance at the same weight.

The core asset is a proprietary design engine, protected by 18 patent families. It converts the physics of metamaterials into certified products and draws on libraries of applications that grow with every project. Each new application builds on tried-and-tested solutions rather than starting from scratch.

The validation is industrial, not academic. Deutsche Bahn has certified the company's transparent noise barrier for the German rail network — the first transparent panel the operator classifies as highly sound-absorbent. Mercedes-Benz uses the technology in mass production, the first metamaterial fitted to a mass-produced car. Construction firms such as Webuild and Eteria choose the barriers because they install faster than conventional products.

How did the company get here?

Founders Luca D'Alessandro, Giovanni Capellari and Stefano Caverni launched the company in 2018 as a spin-off from the Politecnico di Milano. It designs and manufactures in Italy. Turnover has doubled every year since 2018, and the company reached break-even in 2025.

The market context is large. One in five Europeans is exposed to harmful levels of noise, according to figures cited by the company, and the World Health Organisation ranks noise as the second-greatest environmental health risk after air pollution. Data centres, rail networks, energy infrastructure and electric vehicles all demand lighter, more compact, certified noise control wherever they are built.

What did the investors say?

CEO Luca D'Alessandro said: "Weight has always been the price we've had to pay for silence. We have demonstrated that it is a design choice, by collaborating with two of Europe's most demanding clients." He added that with Jolt Capital and long-standing investors Eureka! Venture SGR, CDP Venture Capital and Simest, the company can "accelerate our international growth and make lighter noise control the standard in data centres, the rail sector, the energy sector and industry." He also thanked 360 Capital for backing the team in 2019, "when we were still working at our desks at the Politecnico di Milano."

Andrea Traversone, managing partner at Jolt Capital, argued the sector has hit a wall: "Noise control is reaching a turning point. Conventional products have reached their physical limits, and infrastructure requires quieter assets that are lighter and take up less space." He said Phononic Vibes "combines cutting-edge science, a patented design engine and industrial-scale manufacturing" and called Italy "a country with an increasingly dynamic and vibrant deep-tech ecosystem."

Stefano Peroncini, CEO of Eureka! Venture SGR, explained why his firm has reinvested at every round: "In deep tech, a revolutionary technology paves the way, but it is the ability to execute that builds a company." He described the team's shift from experimenting with proofs of concept to "a focused industrial strategy built around clearly identified markets and genuine customer needs."

Maifredi put the journey in numbers: seven years from a lab idea to certified products used by hundreds of customers worldwide, an industrial company, and break-even.

What happens next?

The €25 million gives Phononic Vibes the capital to push beyond its Italian manufacturing base into data centres, rail and energy markets across Europe. With Deutsche Bahn and Mercedes-Benz references in hand and a fresh growth investor on the register, the company enters its scale-up phase with proven customers rather than prototypes.